We all have grandparents, or at least did at one point. Right around the age of 14 you start getting into cars, planning out your first car. What it will be, what you'll want to do to it, the color, the wheels, the engine, etc. Your dad or grandpa will speak of the olden days. Of their first cars, which they bought for what now is considered a week's pay, and how they spent weekends in the garage tweaking them and making them faster. Their glory days. The days which are now yours.
The culture surrounding the automotive industry is astounding no matter which way you look at it. You have the innovators coming up with more efficient cars, new technology and safer vehicles. You have the designers working with clay models and wind tunnels to find the most impressive lines you have ever seen. Then you have the batshit crazy people. These are the people that buy these cars and then do to them the unthinkable. They change everything, making the car their own.
These people have been around since cars have existed. Most notably the muscle car era, with 8 cylinders of insanity, suspension that handled as if it didn't exist, and traction like driving on sheets of ice. The cars you see at shows with old men in lawn chairs right behind, drinking beer and talking to the couple next to them about these damn kids and computerized machines. I've talked with a few of these gentlemen and most of them have been holding onto these cars for decades. It's incredible. They have stories of wrecks, resurrections, donuts, wheelies, races, anything you can do with a car they have done, and will happily tell you about it all.
Then you have the guys who are obsessed with what I refer to as "the forgotten generation" of cars; the 80s. These cars look as though their designed with rulers. Extreme angles, minimal curves and drastically under-powered engines. These guys are more nuts than the muscle car guys. They tear out the old engines, do insane swaps, like throwing a Chevy 350 into an old RX-7. Hell, I've even seen a big block Chevy engine in a CRX that didn't even fit in the car, but by God they put it in there...and boy did it run. These guys seem to be less about form and more about "hot, nasty, bad-ass speed" - Eleanor Roosevelt.
Now you have the low crowd. The kids buying much newer cars, slamming them to the ground and putting on oversized wheels with undersized tires. There are still the modern muscle car guys as well. Working with incredibly complicated engines like Ford's 4.6 modular engine and Chevy's prized LS series motors, which require a second mortgage to replace the top-end.
I guess my point is this: As long as there are cars on the road, there will be men willing to spend half of their annual salary to create their own personal masterpiece. Sure it may be becoming slightly less popular with modern culture, but who cares right? Car culture is one of the very few international pastimes. So get out there and do something with yours. It can be as small as putting a silly decal on your window or as large as a frame off restoration. You don't need deep pockets to create something. See it, do it, and drive 'til it dies.
Yours in oil,
Mr. Two
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